you
with your small,
four-chambered heart,
shyness, hungers, envy:

—Paisley Rekdal

poets.org/poem/vessels

Listen to Rajiv Mohabir read “Water-Owl, Cuvier’s Beaked Whale”
#PoemADay

megaphone.link/POETS6062525934

“The central idea of this poem is how a consideration of natural history triggers in the whale watcher a deeper engagement with history. Central to this poem is the mysterious Cuvier’s beaked whale.”

—Rajiv Mohabir
Rajiv Mohabir
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/water-owl…

After long rainy afternoons an hour
Comes with its shafts of golden light and flings
Them at the windows in a radiant shower,
And rain drops beat the panes like timorous wings.

—Rainer Maria Rilke

poets.org/poem/april-4

I want them to go on kissing, without
fear. I want to watch them and not
feel so abandoned by hands. Come
home. Everything is begging you.

—Ada Limón

poets.org/poem/it-begins…

When I think of the deepest 
dive in the mammalian 
world, I hear Antonio Gramsci 
who developed the term 
hegemonic pressure, how
underwater it works to consolidate 
mass and to influence the body 

––Rajiv Mohabir
Rajiv Mohabir
#PoemADay

poets.org/poem/water-owl…

The hay will right itself if the day

turns dry. I miss you steadily, painfully.

—Jane Kenyon, born #OTD in 1947

poets.org/poem/heavy-sum…

Read today's #PoemADay : “Birthing Woman as Viscera-Sucker” by Aimee Suzara

poets.org/poem/birthing-…

Easeful air
presses through the screen
with the wild, complex song
of the bird, and I am overcome

by ordinary contentment.

—Jane Kenyon, born #OTD in 1947

poets.org/poem/having-it…

Calling all high school English teachers! This August, join a national community of educators seeking valuable tools for opening doors to poetry in the classroom. Register for our 3-day, online professional development intensive. Limited spots available. Register by 6/15 to

From our archives: In memory of Langston Hughes, who passed away May 22, 1967, we share a letter from him to Elizabeth Kray, the first executive director of the Academy of American Poets.

Listen to Aimee Suzara read “Birthing Woman as Viscera-Sucker”
#PoemADay

megaphone.link/POETS7061317942

“This poem emerges from the mythical-scale experience of birthing my child. Aside from a literal brush with death, there’s the figurative: the old self giving way to the new one, which is now dual [. . .].”

—Aimee Suzara
#AboutThisPoem

poets.org/poem/birthing-…

The cicada’s dry monotony breaks
over me. The days are bright
and free, bright and free.

Then why did I cry today
for an hour, with my whole
body, the way babies cry?

—Jane Kenyon, born #OTD in 1947

poets.org/poem/three-son…

Only the rhythm of the rain
Can ease my sorrow, end my pain.

—Lynn Riggs

poets.org/poem/rhythm-ra…

In preparation for his arrival
I made my den:                             
candles,
bergamot-doused humidifier,
coconut water,
contraction timer.

––Aimee Suzara
#PoemADay

poets.org/poem/birthing-…

Nothing could rouse her then
from that joy so violent
it was hard to distinguish from pain.

—Jane Kenyon, born #OTD in 1947

poets.org/poem/grove-poe…

And rising full moon, sit me down

—Robert Frost

poets.org/poem/waiting-a…

Read today's #PoemADay : “To The People Who Have Resisted the Urge to Push an Asian Person Into the Path of a Moving Train” by Bao Phi

poets.org/poem/people-wh…

O wind, rend open the heat,
cut apart the heat,
rend it to tatters.

—H.D.

poets.org/poem/garden-3